(Click here for previous CSP Daily News coverage of the BPAMA meeting, including comments by BP CEO Bob Dudley.)As fuel volumes and consumer sentiment continue to return, BP is focusing on regaining trust, working with marketers to grow the business together and striving to return BP to the brand of choice for consumers, the company said.
"We have had a very challenging six months," said Kevin Phelan, BP senior vice president for marketing and sales. "While there is no [magic] bullet, our brand continues to show strength, and we are focused on moving the BP brand forward by providing the level of commitment and support that our marketers expect."
According to Phelan, BP-branded sales were down between 7% and 10% during the oil spill. Sales began recovering after the capping of the Mancodo well in mid-July and are currently tracking 3% to 5% below last year's levels.
Phelan and BP director of brand and marketing communications Linda Bartman outlined BP's plan, which focuses on its quality gasoline product, an improved retail site experience and a focus on the local communities in which BP's branded marketers operate.
"The foundation for our plans was based on branded marketer input and consumer insights," said Bartman. "As we move the brand forward, we're focused on building consumer loyalty and regaining branded marketer trust by improving the site experience and strengthening the BP brand in each marketer's local community, which is a good first step."
In addition to the local marketing programs, BP is uniting its marketers through an Olympic-themed customer contest called the Jobber Excellence Program. The program is a competition that recognizes excellence in volume growth, network management and site execution and then rewards marketers with trips to the London Olympics in 2012 and up to $100,000 in funding for site makeovers.
BP is also investing in its marketers by establishing two executive education programs that build capabilities across the marketer's broader organization and help strengthen the marketer's brand. The first is a partnership with Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management and the second is called the Marketer Institute of Excellence--an internal BP extension of the Kellogg program.
"BP's most valuable assets are its marketers," Bartman said. "As we move the BP brand forward, we're investing in our marketers because we want to show our commitment to them, their businesses, and the BP retail brand."
According to Don Good, BP marketer and owner of Good Oil, Winamac, Ind., BP's commitment to progress and improvement resonated well with marketers and brought the two sides closer together during the convention. "At BPAMA, BP was not only focused on making it right in the public's eyes, but making it right for the jobbers--especially when it came to getting the brand back to where we were before the Gulf incident. The jobbers and BP went through a crisis together, and it was a joint effort between us to weather the storm together."
"Coming into this conference, I think the majority of us had an open mind. And leaving, I can honestly say that our spirits were higher than we could ever have expected and have a very positive feeling about the future," said Maximo Alvarez, whose Sunshine Gasoline Distributors is one of the largest suppliers of BP-branded gasoline in Florida.
BP markets more than 15 billion gallons of gasoline every year to U.S. consumers through more than 10,000 BP and ARCO branded retail outlets and supplies more than four billion gallons of fuel annually to fleets, industrial users, auto and truck manufacturers, railroads and utilities. BP is the single, global brand formed by the combination of the former British Petroleum, Amoco, Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) and Burmah Castrol. BP is a global producer, manufacturer and marketer of oil, gas, chemicals and renewable energy sources.
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